Agence France Presse

September 25, 2001 Tuesday

Man to face trial for murder of New Zealand peacekeeper

JAKARTA, Sept 25

A man accused of murdering a New Zealand peacekeeping soldier in East Timor last year is to face trial in Jakarta, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Gustaf Yakob, quoted by Indonesia's state-controlled Antara news agency, said the defendant and evidence in the case would be flown to the capital Wednesday from Indonesian West Timor and handed over to the Central Jakarta district court.

Yacob, speaking in West Timor's main city of Kupang, said the evidence included the victim's firearm, as well as clothing and other personal belongings from both the victim and the suspect.

Private Leonard Wlliam Manning, 24, was shot twice when New Zealand troops serving with the UN peacekeeping force were tracking militia fighters in a rugged border area near Suai in East Timor on July 24, 2000.

Yakob said a date for the trial of the unidentified defendant has yet to be set, adding he, another lawyer Philipus Fernandez, and several Indonesian police officers and prosecutors would be on the same flight to Jakarta.

Yakob said the dossier on the case has already been shown to the chief prosecutor in Indonesia's East Nusa Tenggara province -- which includes West Timor -- and to legal officials with the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor.

Under Indonesian law the trial would take place at the Central Jakarta court because the crime was committed outside Indonesian territory.

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